Chapter 10- Princess of Darkness

The Corruption Core

Prospective: The Kid

Immediately I recognized this place to be the Corruption Core. The walls of the chasms were made of purple ebonstone, lined with thick decaying purple moss and filled with goo. The place smelled of rotting meat and there was a thick dingy moisture that filled the air, so thick that breathing it in was like breathing smoke through a straw.

I stood up, noticing that my sword and armor were gone. I was left standing in only my clothing. I could not reason how I had gotten to be here, or why I was no longer wearing my armor. The last thing I remember was being with Faye and having been attacked by a phantom, now I'm here in this place. That was impossible.

Several creatures came rapidly scurrying up the tunnel I was standing within. I braced myself, realizing that I had no weapons or armor. "At best, maybe I can beat them to death with a rock," I thought reaching down and picking up a sizable chunk of ebonstone.

The creatures rushed up the tunnel towards me. I braced for the attack. I pulled my arm back and prepared to strike at the closest one as it scurried rapidly towards me. As it reached me I swung downwards hard. My hand hit nothing but air. The creature passed right through my hand, then through me. It kept going, as if I were not even there. The others following behind it did the same all moving through me as if I were a ghost. They rushed past me and scurried away into the darkness.

"This can't be real?" I thought to myself, trying to put my hand through the ebonstone wall. It was solid and firm and prevented me from passing through it, so why had those creatures passed by without even noticing me?

There came a voice at the end of the tunnel. It was coming from the direction that the creatures had come. The reverberations of sound off the stone made it impossible to tell what was being said, or by whom.

Assuming that either this place, or I, was not real, it was safe to stay where I was and wait for the coming creatures to near me. Strangely I could understand their words as they neared. This must have been another vision…

One of the voices was deep and dark, filled with evil and hatred. I assumed that one was the creature Faye referred to as the Corruption's Dark Lord. There was another voice that would speak in turn with the first… a woman's voice.

They came near enough that I could see them. Like the creatures they too seemed unaware of my presence and continued talking as they moved towards me.

Both of these entities were cloaked. One was very large, nearly twice the size of the other and spoke in a deep powerful tone. His word's I could understand, though I'm certain they were spoken in the language of the Corrupted. I could now understand what he was saying clearly.

"Humanity is near its end… I task you with this final objective. You will lead the remaining forces of our great army against the human's mainland come night this day. You will come by air, by sea, by land, and overwhelm them. Hunt them down, wherever they are, find them and destroy them all. Leave not a man, woman, nor child alive. Burn everything, decimate their cities and erase their existence from this world. Leave nothing for future species to recollect of their existence. I want humanity erased from reality!"

"I understand," spoke the woman. She too was cloaked under a large robe that covered her face and body.

"Ironic… isn't it Hera? Humanity created us to end their enemies and in doing so they allowed us the power to end themselves. They underestimated you, my precious child. You were the daughter that I was always meant to have."

"We're together now father, little else matters. I will succeed in your will come this night. We will erase humanity from existence, once and for all."

What they were talking about, it had already happened. This must have been only hours before the fall of humanity. I wouldn't have been alive then, or at least I can't remember if I was, but I remember the history… there came a great darkness long ago. Humanity created the Corruption to end their enemies, other humans. In doing this, they created a greater monster, which grew beyond their control.

This same creature, this Dark Lord, he was the one who destroyed the humans originally. Now he's regained enough power to try to do it again. He's come back to finish the job, to fulfill what he believes is his life's purpose. It makes sense… we never did succeed in killing this creature, which means he's been living all this time, seeking to fulfill his purpose. If that's true, who was the woman whom he referred to as his 'daughter'? She couldn't really be his daughter. He was of darkness and she seemed to be human. Perhaps an even greater question was if she was human, why had she served this creature in eradicating her own kind? Even more frightening, was she still alive now?

The two figures moved passed me, not even realizing I was there. They continued onward down the passage. I followed directly behind them overhearing their conversation.

"After the human's have been eradicated, what then father?" the woman asked.

"The seedlings are already grown. After humanity has been eliminated, we will release them and they shall grow into a new humanity, only this time, one that serves us. The seedlings will have no memories of their existence before they were created, nor will they ever question their dark purposes, for they themselves will be unaware. With a new breed of human, we shall reseed the world and all shall fall to darkness."

"We will be God's, and rule all that exists?"

"You shall… not I. Once the humans are no more, I will leave this world to you my child, and return to hibernation."

"What if I require you're knowledge, father?"

"Wake me only if you must, but with the humans gone, there should be little need for that."

"Yes father. I understand."

A terrible feeling overcame me. I stopped following them. If this really was the past and this had occurred, it would mean that this woman, Hera, failed to end humanity. We are still here, which means her attack failed in completely eliminating us. What if this Dark Lord's vengeance was a derivative of her failure… was she then killed I wonder? If that' so, it would explain why he hates us so much. Not only did we prevail against his desire to end us, we also took from him the only thing he ever seemed to have affection towards. That would make sense, seeing as I've never heard of a Hera before… "She must have fallen," I thought to myself.

"Come, Princess," the Dark Lord said, as they turned around another corner and faded from my sight. "We have much preparation to accommodate for."

"Princess… she was not only his daughter, she was his heir. That must have been what he meant when he spoke of her inheriting the world after she ended the humans. He intended to go into hibernation. Since she failed he remained awake all these years, plotting to destroy us. And these 'seedlings' he spoke of reseeding the world with, a new breed of human? "What is that supposed to mean?" I wondered.

I started to walk in the direction that they had gone, when again the throbbing returned. I felt horribly dizzy. The world spun as blood flooded to my brain and I felt myself falling once again… down into the darkness.